Finally: The papal summit we all wanted to see

Ed MorrisseyPosted at 10:41 pm on August 29, 2017

Who says there are no happy endings in politics? After having been left off the list for Donald Trump’s audience with Pope Francis in May, it appeared that Sean Spicer had missed his chance to have a personal audience with the pontiff. The apparent snub for the Catholic press secretarygot plenty of attention from the media, whose antennae for internecine fights and snubs in the White House have grown remarkably sensitive over the last, oh, eight months or so. Coincidence, surely.

A group of legislators and politicians from around the world gathered in Italy this week for a meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, where they were received by Pope Francis at the Vatican. Among those gathered was Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary who was by some accounts snubbed by President Trump in May.

Mr. Spicer, a Catholic, had expressed a desire to meet Pope Francis, but he was left off the list of U.S. officials who accompanied the president to the Vatican. This perceived slight prompted sympathetic comments from some of the journalists Mr. Spicer sparred with as press secretary[.]

Vatican City newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published the photos two days ago, but this news traveled a little more slowly, perhaps because no one apparently announced its satisfying conclusion. O’Loughlin sniffed it out after seeing a different picture of Spicer on the the Vatican Radio Facebook page from the event. From the entire series of photographs, it appears that Spicer had his whole family with him — which would make this an even sweeter denouement.

However, this is hardly the most remarkable audience with the pontiff — not even the most remarkable in the same meeting. Imagine having the confidence to have the Pope watch you pop the question to your girlfriend. What’s she going to say — I’ll think about it? It’s a genius move.